Forgotten Memories
by KeepTheLegacy
Summary: The war to awaken the sleeping worlds has started. To what lengths will you go to free these worlds? Crappy summary. My version of Kingdom Hearts 3. *STORY ALSO CONTINUED ON * Add me on deviantart: LegacyChu Update: The story is back on! I found out I can update from my phone now. Happy days. I'm back baby!
1. Chapter 1

AN: What's up guys :D Just to let you know, this is my 1st ever story. Go easy on me, alright? Hope you like it! :D

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Kingdom hearts belongs to its respectful owner.

Prologue

Ravaged in darkness with no trace of light anywhere. The world is engulfed in shadows, struggling to escape. Hearts of the proud and the brave, taken over by the darkness that surrounds them. The heartless have taken over, engulfing every city, every country, until all there is left is the shadows, the hell-bound creations taking and killing every person that stands in their way. Growing in numbers, getting stronger by the second. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, trying to get away from the forces that only want hearts. Nothing more, just hearts. No control of themselves, just raging, collecting hearts with no given purpose. Those are the heartless of this world. No purpose, no real reason for existence.

Chapter 1: Reawakening

He awakens, unaware of where he is. Floating in a dark abyss, overflowing with darkness, not a trace of light to be seen, Riku realized he is alone, only able to hear the voices inside his head, persuading him to give into the darkness. With the swing of his hand, his keyblade, the Way To Dawn, appears. Riku was wearing a black robe, similar to the Organization's, who were disbanded years ago. Instantly, he sees a door in the distance. The door has a keyhole, one he remembers in the past. Weakly lifting his left arm, he aims his weapon at the keyhole, and releases a beam of light, unlocking the door.

He blindly starts walking to the door with a mysterious bright light emitting from it. He ends up standing in a room, with stairs that aren't connected, and platforms with stained glass designs with princesses engraved into them. He looks down at the green platform he is currently standing on and sees a design of the one and only Cinderella. He walks toward the edge of the platform, losing his balance and almost falling off. He regains balance, but is shocked to see that it is floating on nothing, just a in-adamant object floating in the middle of the darkness that surrounds him, leading to nowhere. "Where am I?" Riku asked in confusing, realizing there is no exit, no way back, but only able to move forward to continue this crazy nightmare.

Not knowing what is ahead of him, he cautiously climbs up the steps that leads him to the next platform, realizing that there are heartless ahead. Preparing to face this unknown enemy, he releases his weapon, and with excitement in his eyes, he charges at the enemies yelling "Come on!" as a threat. A heartless lunges and slashes a claw at Riku, causing him to lose his balance. Riku jumps into the air and slashes down, cutting through the heartless' head. The heartless disappears through dark matter. The next heartless jumps on his back and bites down, causing Riku to scream in anger and pain. "Is that all you got?" He taunts with an angry smile and he slashes at the ground, flinging him up into the air, also causing the heartless to let go of his back in shock. In midair, he grabs his weapon with both arms, the end of the blade facing down, aimed at his target, and hit's the heartless' back. The heartless fades away, leaving Riku tired from the combat. He feels something grow inside him, an unknown power surges through his body. It makes him a little bit stronger, giving Riku courage.

He looks up and sees a door, standing unguarded at the edge of the platform. He runs up and grabs the handle. A voice says "_beyond this door lies a world without peace. Countless enemies will try and end your life. But you will be able to find the light. If you choose to enter, the world is in you and your friend's hands."_ He remembers Sora, one of the friends he grew up with back on the island. _What does Sora have to do with any of this? _He twists the handle and opens the door and walks through it. He stops to find two more platforms, the same ones as before. He looks down and sees a graphic of Snow White. He looks up and sees a black vortex, rapidly spinning, but not sucking anything in. He runs towards it and touches it. A bright light coming from nowhere shines, causing Riku to close his eyes. He opens them to see that he is in another dark room, this time with no platforms. He looks around to see the unimaginable. His memories were scattered around the room, connected with chains, the one with his home world closest to him. He sees himself sleeping. _am I really asleep?_ he thinks to himself in confusion. He walks up to touch his memory, hoping that would wake him up. Then he hears a noise, and turns to see all the chains breaking extremely fast, making his memories fade. He sees his world memory fading, and runs to touch it, but it disappears. He turns around, and then he saw bright yellow eyes, angrily staring into Riku's soul. He tries to look away, but something has made him lose control of his body. All of a sudden, his keyblade appears and his uncontrolled arm moves and the keyblade is pointing towards the mysterious figure. He then regains control of his body, but his keyblade is still pointing towards the creature. Then something bright shines from under him.

He sees a platform with dark thorns covering it, releasing a energy Riku could not make out. The thorns were black, with a shade of blue in them, and were connected like the thorns on a rose. They were scattered around the platform, covering up almost everything on it, but not so much that he can see the graphic. His eyes widened. He saw a girl, possibly 15, with long red hair going to the middle of her back. She was wearing all pink, with a knee length skirt and boots going up to under the knee. She wore a sleeveless jacket and was holding a keyblade. Her eyes were closed. He looks to the top of the design to see a quote that says "Thinking of you, wherever you are." Then it all comes back to him.

He remembers Sora reading a letter that was sent in a bottle while they were in The Realm of Darkness, reading those exact words. He remembers a girl that he also grew up with on the island who looked exactly like that. He remembers her name. He looks down at the design again and says, "Kairi?" He then feels a pressure that exerts from behind him. He turns around, and the pressure gets stronger, dropping Riku to his knees. _Ugh, I can't move! What's going on? he thinks to himself, and he looks up and sees something beyond his wildest dreams. Something that he could never imagine. It was the height of a 3 story building. Hair falls messily over its face. It had a heart shaped hole in the base of its stomach. Its hands were huge, the size of a tree. Riku was scared out of his mind. He had never faced anything like this in his past journeys. His eyes were wide, but Riku knew he couldn't give up. Using every ounce of his strength, he forces himself up, and exerts his own amount of power. "Heh, I guess I have no choice is. Alright, I'm not holding back! Give it everything you've got, Darkside!"_

_~So what did you guys think? Did I do good for a first start? There is more to come, and I have a lot of ideas for you guys. What did you think of Riku in his organization uniform again? Amazing, right? Well I will see you in the next chapter. Keep reading, guys! :D_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry for the long ass wait. XD But anyway, here is chapter 2 of the story. Enjoy.

Darkside raised his arm high in the air. Riku braced himself, getting ready to shield from any incoming attack Darkside throws at him. Suddenly, Darkside slams his fist down hard at Riku, making the platform shake under him. The ground started cracking, making a crater 10 times Riku's size form under him.

He began to struggle, the strain from the attack too much for him, almost snapping Riku's arm in half like a twig. He grunted in pain, but managed to keep his balance and power through it, and tried to force Darkside's arm off his left arm. After removing the arm, Riku's arm gave in, the force of the attack destroying the nerve system that operates the arm connecting to his brain. Before the dark figure could raise his arm to attack, with Riku's remaining arm, he charged a dark ball from his keyblade and shot it straight at Darkside, making it stumble, but eventually falling and making the ground shake. A direct hit.

It sunk underground, and dark matter formed under Riku's feet. Riku used both arms, even though the left arm stopped working, to lift himself so he could stand, only to fall back down onto his knees. His legs had given out from all the force Darkside put on Riku's he could react and get away, a large beam of darkness shot up, taking Riku up into the sky. He flew 50 feet into the air, spinning rapidly as he careened through the sky. Unable to control his trajectory in midair, he flew off the platform.

"No ... it won't end like this. Not yet!"

Riku lifted his keyblade with his right arm and slammed it into the side of the platform, sliding down the side quickly, fearing the possibility of falling into the nothingness below him. He started to gradually slow down, stopping at the bottom of the platform. Then an idea came to him. Just like a bar, he rocked his body back and forth, causing himself to move up and down like a metrenome. He then threw himself high into the air, but then got blindsided by Darkside. It hit Riku with a massive amount of power, slamming its giant fist into Riku's stomach, making him cough up a large amount of then slammed Riku down to the ground so hard that he felt something crack in his lower back.

His spine had been ruptured. He screamed in pain, only hoping that this fight would end. Then a familiar voice came into his head and said, _"Don't give into the darkness, Riku! Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a little light."_

_"Your Magesty!"_ Riku thought to himself. Darkside raised his fist high into the air to finish him off, and swung down at high speeds.

"I will not give into the darkness. Not again! Sora .. Kairi .. Your Magesty .. I won't let you down! Not now, not ever!" Riku exclaimed.

He then stopped Darkside's fist with his keyblade. The power reversed and went straight up Darkside's arm, feeling its arm break in 3 different places. Then a great power released from Riku that Darkside couldn't handle. It grew stronger and stronger, causing the ground to shake and crack beneath their feet. Darkside then hesitated, but proceeded to strike the final blow, when it was cut on the broken parts of its turned and saw the back of Riku. Darkside growled, but Riku turned and sent a death glare at Darkside. Darkside's pulse sped up in intimidation, then Riku turned around.

His eyes were white, all white. They were glowing brightly. His keyblade had light shining around it, spinning like it was trapped in a vortex. Riku was glowing with light, the power creating its own wind, making his hair flow like it was in an autumn breeze. His clothes were cut and ripped in many different places, but his injuries were healed, but only in this form. Darkside charged up more dark matter and made it cover his right hand, getting ready to deliver the final punch.

"You think this battle is over?" Riku asked in pity. "Well I have to admit, you put up a really good fight, Darkside. I never thought I would ever be pushed this far."

Light particles from even the deepest pits of darkness started to gather around Riku's keyblade, swirling slowly. Even light particles from Darkside poured out of it and traveled to Riku's keyblade. Soon Riku's whole body was covered in light.

"I'm sorry, but this battle is over. I have found the light. And you should know that even the deepest darkness can't beat out the light. Now, Darkside," Riku said as he raised his arm with his weapon in between his fingers, "give into the light!"

Darkside then punched at Riku, while Riku charged towards Darkside with his keyblade still pointing at it. Then his weapon pierced Darkside's hand, quickly cutting through it. It felt like a perfectly sharpened spear was penetrating the skin with full force. Riku traveled all the way up Darkside's arm and then past Darkside. He then turned and threw his keyblade at Darkside's head like a dart hitting a dartboard, snapped his fingers, and Darkside exploded.

_"Even the deepest darkness can't beat the light,"_ the voice of King Mickey said, as the explosion got bigger.

The energy from the blast shot out all over the abyss, with a sound that can break the eardrums. The light was so bright that it can blind any ordinary human being, so Riku had to shield his eyes with his arm to block out the blinding light. The light around Riku disappeared, bringing his injuries back. He then fell hard on the platform onto his back. He had lost feeling in his muscles, so the impact did not affect him at all. His cuts stopped bleeding, his muscles were straining, and his hair fell messily over his face. His body was bruised and banged up. He smiled, knowing that being trapped in an endless abyss was perfect for him. The platform disappeared, and he was now floating on then saw a mysterious figure, wearing the same robe the Organization XIII had.

The figure removed his hood and there stood an animal with two big mouse ears and held the kingdom key, similar to Sora's. It was King Mickey, the ruler of Disney Castle. He then held out his hand, smiling and waiting for Riku to reach out and grab it, letting Riku know that it was all over now. With the remaining strength he had left, he then reached out and grabbed the King's hand. The entire room turned to light, making Riku close his eyes. Instantly, he awakens.


	3. Chapter 3

Riku rose from his bed, his mind in a frenzy. Sweat trickled down the side of his face as he was slouched on his bed, deep in thought.

_ "It was just a bad dream,"_ Riku thought to himself skeptically. _"But what did it mean?"_

He turned and looked at his clock. The time read 4:30 in the morning. He sighed and slumped back on to his bed. There had to be some sort of explanation. He and Sora had left to free the worlds from their prison already. Why does it feel like the darkness keeps calling him back, to be under the imprisonment of darkness once again?

"I need to get some air," Riku said as he rubbed his temple.

He quickly changed into his clothes. He wore a white v-neck t-shirt and a yellow vest over it. He had a necklace with the same symbol on the chain of his keyblade. He wore faded blue jeans and black, flat-bottom shoes. He also wore white and yellow gloves with an adjustable strap, with the fingers of the glove cut off.

He walked quietly down the stairs, careful not to wake his sleeping parents. He opened the front door and silently closed it behind him. He then strolled out onto the beach. Destiny Island is always peaceful at night time. It helps you clear your mind when it is troubled. The waves calmly clashed onto the sandy beach, while a light breeze blew, picking up petals that drifted from trees. The moon shined brightly in the sky, shining a light blue light onto the island.

Riku smiled slightly at how peaceful his home was. He then made his way across the bridge over to his favorite spot, the curved Paopu fruit tree. He pulled himself on top of the tree and sat there, legs dangling over the edge, leaned over with his arms in his lap. He then brought himself back to his dream.

_ "Is the war not really over?"_ Riku thought nervously._ "Ansem might call me back to darkness and make me his toy again."_

He looked at his hands, making a fist in both of them.

"Not this time," Riku said out loud.

"Riku?"

Riku jumped off of the tree and saw Sora, skeptically crossing the bridge, a worried look on his face.

"Hey there, Sora," Riku said with a smile, crossing his arms.

Sora was like a brother to Riku. He had been friends with him ever since he moved to Destiny Islands. Sora was basically the next door neighbor.

"What are you doing up so early?" Sora asked, hands calmly laced behind his head as he walked over and stood in front of the tree.

"Nothing important," Riku said as he rubbed his face with his hands tiredly and gave Sora a weak smile. "Just... Trying to get over a nightmare, that's all."

"Really?" Sora asked surprised. "I had a nightmare, too. It was about Darkside, and a bunch of platforms I had to climb. I had to fight him and everything."

"My dream was just like that," Riku said as he stared up into the sky.

There was a slight pause before he spoke again.

"Do you think that," Riku said as he paused, "that maybe the war we fought isn't over yet?"

Sora looked up into the sky, wondering the same question. Maybe their journey was far from over. Maybe the worlds have gone back to sleep, and they have to re-awaken them. Maybe ... Maybe he had to leave home once more, leaving his friends, family, and life behind to protect other worlds.

A slow breeze blew through his chestnut hair as he thought over this.

"Hmm..." Sora began as he continued to think. Then he turned his head slightly to face Riku. "This war could be far from over. Maybe we have to be called back into battle one last time. But remember: no matter what happens to us, we will have fought the good fight, and we will have saved the worlds from an eternal slumber."

Riku looked at Sora for a moment before facing the ocean. He could be right. We may have to go back into battle. But we will be together instead of separated from their closest friends.

Sora looked down at his necklace and placed a hand over it.

"We will be connected, Riku. Because we share the same sky. No matter how far apart we are, our friends will still feel closer than ever."

He turned and stood in front of Riku, a determined look on his face.

"We have our friends on our side! They will always be there to support us, no matter what. The Organization, the heartless, the nobodies; They won't stand a chance against us. The past few years ... Yes, we had to fight the enemy. Yes, we had to put our lives on the line. But we were alone. I may have had Donald and Goofy on my side, but I didn't have YOU on my side, or Kairi, or ANYONE! But this time we will. We won't be alone in this, Riku. All this time, we were fighting together, saving the worlds together, even defeating Xemnas together!"

Riku took out his lucky charm. It was made by Kairi for him once he came back, to let him know no matter how far away you might be, that she will always be with him. He store at it and smiled slightly. Sora was right. He wasn't alone.

"You walked the path of dawn, Riku," Sora continued. "You found the light, just like the rest of us did. But you weren't alone. You had all of us: me, Kairi, the King- you had us to help you find that light that changed your life. You were never alone when you walked that path. You had all of us alongside of you."

"Sora is right," a voice behind him said.

Sora and Riku both turned to see Kairi walking over the bridge over to them. Her auburn hair was flowing softly in the wind, and her violet eyes were shining ever so slightly.

"All of these battles were not won alone. We were all there, standing side by side, walking the same path, because we were together. Now we are back together again, under the same sky, ready for whatever life throws at us," Kairi said with a smile.

Sora smiled back and nodded. "We don't have to be alone this time. As long as we all fight," Sora said before holding his hand out, "together."

Riku jumped down from his tree and put his hand over Sora's. "Together."

Kairi walked over and put her hands over Sora's and Riku's. "Together!"

This fight wasn't over. It has only just begun. But they had their friends by their side for whatever comes their way. They were never on this road going solo. They were together all along, connected by the moon, the sky, the stars, and even their hearts.

Sora glanced over the distance when he saw something floating over to the shoreline. It shaped what seemed like a bottle with a paper in it. He ran over, jumping off the bridge, and running over to the edge of the beach to retrieve it. Riku and Kairi gave each other confused glances, before heading out after Sora.

"Guys, look!" Sora yelled as he held up the bottle. "It's a letter!"

"Who's it from?" Riku asked as he made his way over to Sora, while Kairi followed.

Sora glanced all around the bottle for something to try and figure out who it was from. He then found it. The insignia from the royal guards of Disney Castle. Right then and there, they knew exactly who it was from.

"From the king?


End file.
